Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ live and serve and bless.

      Lord of all earthly woe and need,

      Be this, life's flower, mine!

      To love, to comfort, and to heal—

      Therein is life divine!

      —Josephine Troup.

      ———

      FOR STRENGTH WE ASK

      For strength we ask

      For the ten thousand times repeated task,

      The endless smallnesses of every day.

      No, not to lay

      My life down in the cause I cherish most,

      That were too easy. But, whate'er it cost,

      To fail no more

      In gentleness toward the ungentle, nor

      In love toward the unlovely, and to give,

      Each day I live,

      To every hour with outstretched hand, its meed

      Of not-to-be-regretted thought and deed.

      —Agnes Ethelwyn Wetherald.

      ———

      MARTHA OR MARY?

      I cannot choose; I should have liked so much

      To sit at Jesus' feet—to feel the touch

      Of his kind gentle hand upon my head

      While drinking in the gracious words he said.

      And yet to serve Him!—Oh, divine employ—

      To minister and give the Master joy;

      To bathe in coolest springs his weary feet,

      And wait upon Him while He sat at meat!

      Worship or service—which? Ah, that is best

      To which he calls us, be it toil or rest;

      To labor for Him in life's busy stir,

      Or seek His feet, a silent worshiper.

      —Caroline Atherton Mason.

      ———

      This is the gospel of labor—ring it, ye bells of the kirk—

      The Lord of Love came down from above to live with the men who work.

      This is the rose that he planted, here in the thorn-cursed soil;

      Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of earth is toil.

      —Henry van Dyke.

      

      ———

      MARTHA

      Yes, Lord, Yet some must serve!

      Not all with tranquil heart,

      Even at Thy dear feet,

      Wrapped in devotion sweet,

      May sit apart!

      Yes, Lord! Yet some must bear

      The burden of the day,

      Its labor and its heat,

      While others at Thy feet

      May muse and pray.

      Yes, Lord! Yet some must do

      Life's daily task-work; some

      Who fain would sing must toil

      Amid earth's dust and moil,

      While lips are dumb!

      Yes, Lord! Yet man must earn

      And woman bake the bread;

      And some must watch and wake

      Early for others' sake,

      Who pray instead!

      Yes, Lord! Yet even thou

      Hast need of earthly care;

      I bring the bread and wine

      To Thee a Guest divine—

      Be this my prayer!

      —Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr.

      ———

      If we sit down at set of sun

      And count the things that we have done,

      And counting, find

      One self-denying act, one word

      That eased the heart of him who heard,

      One glance most kind,

      That fell like sunshine where it went,

      Then we may count the day well spent.

      But if through all the livelong day

      We've eased no heart by yea or nay;

      If through it all

      We've nothing done that we can trace

      That brought the sunshine to a face,

      No act most small

      That helped some soul, and nothing cost,

      Then count that day as worse than lost.

      ———

      This for the day of life I ask:

      Some all-absorbing, useful task;

      And when 'tis wholly, truly done,

      A tranquil rest at set of sun.

      ———

      SERVICE

СКАЧАТЬ